Broadcast Yourself
by SteveTR
Summary: When Emil Nekola, a noted YouTube video connoisseur, decides to show his boyfriend Michele Crispino a YouTube video by his favorite YouTuber duo, he does not yet know what events this innocent act will trigger.


Chapter 1 – A Shared Interest

"I still don't understand why you're so obsessed with these two." Michele said, shaking his head slightly. Emil was trying to get him to watch a video by his favorite YouTubers again. This kind of thing happened regularly.

At first, Michele tried to keep his mind open. He knew the importance of letting your lover share their interests, and so he initially just sat still and smiled politely. "That was pretty good." he'd say. Eventually, though, he started to get sick of it. He just plain didn't like what Emil was showing him. After a couple years, he didn't even try to hide it.

"Come on, this video is really funny, though!" Emil replied with an enthusiastic expression on his face.

On the screen, two young men were playing The Sims 4 and laughing. As Michele found out, they'd been playing this game for several years.

"Wait, so they still haven't beaten the game after all these years?"

Emil didn't say a word but his eyes betrayed what he was feeling at that moment – disbelief. Michele, of course, realized something was wrong. He'd known Emil for far too long.

"Oh, is it one of those MMO games? Those never end, right?" Once again, Emil said nothing.

"Mickey, if you don't like the video, just tell me. I'll pause it."

"Okay then. Emil, I don't like the video."

"But… but… it's Dan and Phil!" Emil didn't except Michele to actually say what he just said. He was just trying to share his love of the duo, after all. "How could you not like Dan and Phil?"

"No, I… I like them, I guess. I just don't like the video." Emil remained silent and for a brief second, Michele thought he was finally free. He could finally go do something else. He didn't have to watch videos he didn't even care about anymore.

"Oh, then I'll just show you a different video. That might be more your cup of tea." Emil said cheerfully. He started typing.

"You don't have to pull up another video, Emil. I don't really like watching other people play video games."

"Oh, this isn't that kind of video. You'll see." Emil clicked on the first result. It was the two Brits again, except they weren't playing a video game now. Instead, they were drawing whiskers on each other's faces.

"Well, they do look kinda cute."

Emil had the biggest grin on his face. He turned away from the screen and beamed at Michele. All Michele could see in his boyfriend's blue eyes was joy. This wasn't the sort of joy he would see whenever Emil did great at a competition, though. This was the joy he would see whenever Emil felt like he beat him. Did Emil really care about Dan and Phil this much? Did Emil really care about his boyfriend liking Dan and Phil this much? Suddenly, a thought occurred to Michele.

"Wait a minute…"

Emil didn't reply but started chuckling. He won once again. After about thirty seconds, he finally stopped chuckling. "Michele Crispino just said Dan and Phil look cute! I take it you're a fan now?"

"Shut up! Shut up, Emil!" Michele now had an angry expression on his face. Just Michele's own way of showing embarrassment, Emil thought. "You're like some kind of a teenager!"

"Oh, Mickey. No need to defend yourself. I understand, I really do!" That seemed to calm Michele down a bit. With a satisfied expression, Emil added, "But tell me… which one's cuter?"

"Probably Phi- what does that have to do with anything?!" The anger returned. Michele wasn't _really_ angry, though. He just didn't want to admit Emil had defeated him once again. "Idiota!"

Emil was unfazed by Michele's insult. That poor boy. "Why do you think Phil's cuter?" he asked with a gentle smile. Michele was positively fuming at this point. He stood up so fast the chair he sat on slid away from him and walked to the open door, which he then proceeded to slam. Those Italians sure know how to put on a show, Emil thought. The poor Czech still hadn't quite gotten used to Michele's storming off. Michele loved him, that was without a doubt. But perhaps he was genuinely angry? What if Emil had gone too far?

Suddenly, the door opened and Michele's head popped out. "I like his blue eyes!" With that, Emil's boyfriend disappeared again. That was unexpected. So he really _was_ just embarrassed. Still, I probably shouldn't have kept pushing, Emil thought to himself.

At that moment, a notification popped up on Emil's phone. "Awesome, new video!" He shifted his focus from his phone to the computer screen and checked his favorite channel. Sure enough, a new video had just been uploaded. "How's it going bros…"

* * *

"…diepiiiiiie!"

Michele was sitting on the couch in the living room with his laptop in his lap. The videos Emil showed him actually intrigued him. He decided to watch some more videos from the duo, and so he opened YouTube. It wasn't a website Michele went on often. Frankly, he mostly just used it to watch his fellow figure skaters' performances. Naturally, he watched Emil's performances the most out of all. He never told his boyfriend, though. What he didn't know was that Emil knew already. He'd used Michele's laptop once or twice and, well, it was difficult not to notice that all his recommendations were videos of Emil Nekola.

Michele wasn't watching videos of Emil now, though. In fact, he wasn't even watching Dan and Phil. YouTube recommended him a video by some guy named Pewdiepie. "What a silly name!" Michele exclaimed to no-one in particular. After clicking on the video, he was disappointed to find it was another gaming video. The man playing the video game was pretty funny, though. The way he behaved reminded Michele of Emil. They were both loud and energetic. This Pewdiepie guy also seemed to be quite fond of memes. Again, just like Emil. Actually, it wasn't just his personality that reminded Michele of Emil.

Michele paused the video and began staring into Pewdie's blue eyes. Just like Emil's. Those eyes were part of the reason why he fell in love with Emil in the first place. Every time he stared into the blueness, he saw passion, warmth, and, most importantly to Michele, affection. They announced to the world that their owner cares deeply about his loved ones but also about his hobbies. What could those beautiful blue eyes even see in Michele's dull brown eyes?

"Mickey."

Michele was lost in the blue eyes that belonged to the person on the screen but he no longer saw Pewdiepie. He saw Emil. Emil was staring at him from his screen. And now, Emil was also staring at him from behind the laptop.

"Mickey, are you alright?"

Michele did not respond to Emil's inquiry. His mind was overflowing with thoughts. Eventually, one thought started asserting its dominance inside Michele's head. It became clearer with every blink of the eye. Eventually, the Italian could see it in front of him. As if he'd suddenly been transported into a different place. A place where his thought became a reality. At last, he opened his mouth.

"Hey, Emil, have you ever heard of Pewdiepie?"


End file.
